Page 32 of Edge of Heaven (Crimson Edge #2)

Mick

I have a feeling this isn’t going to end well for me. I’m not sure why she’s so upset, or what she’s talking about, but I obligingly pull out my phone and open the internet. I search for Callum’s name and— whoa .

Oh, hell. This isn’t good at all.

Death Metal Rockstar and Girlfriend have drug-laced Hospital Altercation.

Drugs and Alcohol Fuel Argument Between Rock Guitarist Callum Yates and Model Girlfriend Taryn Blakely.

“What?” she asks.

She’s going to be pissed.

“Looks like the judge denied bail,” I murmur.

“Fuck.” She holds out her hand. “Let me see.”

“You don’t need to get upset again,” I say quietly.

“Mick. Give me the damn phone.”

Well, it’s not like I can say no, so I slowly hand it over.

Her eyes widen and she starts combing through the articles.

“What the—” Her face gets even paler. “Oh my God. What are they saying about me? I don’t do drugs! Fuck fuck fuck!”

“Honey, you were the victim,” I say gently.

She wiggles the phone angrily. “That’s not what it says here!

This is all about our drug and alcohol use leading to a physical altercation that put me in the hospital.

And every single article mentions drugs…

someone has video of him calling me a coke whore!

” She closes her eyes. “Mick, what did you do?”

“I didn’t do anything,” I protest.

“You told the cops! And now look at me—I’m everywhere as some drug-addled idiot who lets her boyfriend hit her. How the hell am I going to get custody with this shit everywhere?”

“You didn’t do anything wrong and—” I try again but she’s not having it, shaking her head at me.

“This was the leverage I needed! Don’t you understand?

I finally had him where I wanted him. I wouldn’t have chosen for it to happen because he beat me up, but once he did it—he was high.

When he came down and saw the results of what he did, he would be sorry.

I could use that to keep him on his best behavior.

Two more payments, Mick, and I would’ve been free.

Now you ruined everything. Not only can he not make those payments if he’s in jail, I can’t make those last two payments! ”

“I can help! I told you?—”

“Stop it.” She looks furious, her pretty face marred by both bruises and tears. “And I told you a million times—I don’t want money from you! I can’t be with you unless I come to you free of debt and outside obligations. Why can’t you understand and respect my boundaries?”

“Because they’re stupid!” I snap. “This is about your son, not some misplaced sense of pride or whatever it is you’ve got going on.”

“It’s not misplaced,” she hisses. “I’m trying not to bring baggage to our relationship and you’re just shitting all over how I feel.”

Christ.

This isn’t the conversation I thought we’d be having.

“Look, I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings. I don’t mean to. I’m just thinking about what Toby needs. Short-term, I want to get through this. We can sort out everything later. Once he’s okay and you’re?—”

“You don’t understand,” she whispers. “There can’t be a later if we start everything on the wrong foot now.”

I’m trying to be patient, but I truly don’t understand.

“So it’s okay to take money for your kid from your abusive boyfriend, whom you hate, but not from the guy who loves you? Please make that make sense.”

“I always make bad decisions!” she snaps.

“ Always . Getting pregnant at fifteen. Leaving Toby behind and letting my parents have custody while I went to college. Dating guys who don’t appreciate me.

My spending habits. Turning down work I thought was beneath me.

Even walking away from a great guy like you because I was going to be a supermodel and I didn’t have time for a long-distance relationship.

“My entire life has been built on a series of bad decisions, and I refuse to do that with you. Not this time. I refuse to come to you with the baggage of my past. And if you can’t respect that, then we can’t have a future.”

I don’t usually think I’m dense, but I feel like it right now.

I’m not sure what to say because she’s completely focused on the idea that I can’t help her with Toby’s situation.

“If we were a couple, and we already are, despite the circumstances… wouldn’t I be a part of Toby’s life?”

“I don’t know,” she says.

“You don’t know?”

“I’m barely in his life! How can you be?”

“You’ve been sleeping with a mean, abusive man for the last year so you can pay for his treatment—that tells me just how involved you are in his life.”

A knock on the door interrupts us.

“Ms. Blakely? The doctor said you were awake.” Detectives O’Shaunessy and Ortiz are standing in the doorway. “Would it be all right if we talked to you?”

“I guess I don’t have a choice,” she mumbles.

“Honey—” I reach for her, but she shakes her head.

“You should go. You’ve done enough.”

Ouch .

That not only hurts my feelings, it also pisses me off a little too.

I’ve bent over backwards to be there for her.

I’ve not only offered her my heart, but every dime to my name, the help of my friends, and anything else I could possibly give her.

And what do I get in return?

She blames me for getting Callum arrested even though that was his own fault. He showed up at the hospital high and admitted everything, so how is this my fault? I know the news reports don’t look good, but I can talk to Sasha and our PR people could fix that.

But apparently, she doesn’t want my help.

“Would you mind giving us some privacy?” Detective Ortiz asks me.

“Do you want me to leave?” I ask Taryn.

She nods. “I think it’s for the best, Mick. We’ve said all there is to say.”

No, we definitely have not.

But this isn’t the time or place to finish this conversation.

Because I’m not walking away without a fight.

I just have to regroup and figure out what my next move is.

“All right,” I say quietly. “I’ll talk to you soon.”

Then I turn and walk out of the room without looking back.

* * *

“How’s Taryn?” Ryleigh accosts me as I’m leaving the hospital.

“She’s talking to the detectives.”

“What’s wrong?” She watches my face intently.

“She’s mad at me ,” I say in frustration. “Like it’s somehow my fault that she’s all over the news as some druggie whore whose rocker boyfriend beat her up.”

“Why is she blaming you?”

“Because she heard me mention Callum’s name to the cops yesterday. She seems to have conveniently forgotten that he showed up and made a fool of himself without any help from me.”

“She’s raw right now,” Ryleigh says gently, squeezing my arm. “I’ll talk to her.”

“I don’t understand her perspective. Can you explain it to me?” I give her an abbreviated version of the things Taryn said.

She frowns. “Well, part of it, yes. I do understand. She feels like she’s made a mess of her life and that she makes really bad decisions.

So leaving Callum and going straight to you, with the same issues—money, Toby’s illness, the custody situation, not having money or a steady income—would be following the same pattern.

And with you, she wants to break the pattern. ”

“That part I understand, but the rest of it? I mean, why can’t I help her? I love her.”

“Does she know that?”

“We haven’t had a specific ‘I love you’ and ‘I love you too’ conversation,” I say.

“But I’ve told her that I’m in love with her, and today I referred to her as the woman I’m in love with, but she doesn’t seem to care about any of that.

She keeps talking about how she can’t afford the last two payments and she won’t take money from me. Or you. Or the band.”

“Yeah, we got into a little of that too,” she says, shaking her head.

“I think right now she’s in a place of trauma, fear, and guilt.

Guilt that she can’t take care of her son.

Guilt about what she’s been doing the last year or so, with Callum.

She feels cheap, like the only thing she’s good for is sex. ”

I wince.

I want to tell her we haven’t made love yet, not really, but that’s private. That’s something I don’t feel comfortable sharing.

“What do I do?” I ask in frustration.

“I think right now you need to give her space. Let her wrap her head around everything that’s happened. Heal both physically and emotionally.”

“Without me.” I say it flatly.

“Maybe right now that’s what she needs. And if you truly love her, you’ll give her the space to figure things out. In her own way. Not your way.”

I sigh and nod.

Because she’s right.

I do love her and if being away from me for now is what she needs, then I’ll do it.

No matter how much I don’t want to.

“It’s going to be okay,” Ryleigh whispers. “I promise.” She reaches out and gives me a hug.

I really hope she’s right.